Passage
by Ominae
Summary: Setsuna meets again with Marina after Celestial Being achieved a pyrrhic victory at the hands of the UN Army. SPOILERS: Post-Season 1, a bit of pre and in-season parts of Season 2. A bit of AU. Setsuna/Marina.


Mobile Suit Gundam 00/Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 - Passage

By: Ominae

Rating: T

NOTE:

All characters of Gundam 00 are under the copyright of Seiji Mizushima, Sunrise and the Manichi Broadcasting System.

Summary:

Setsuna meets again with Marina after Celestial Being achieved a pyrrhic victory at the hands of the UN Army. SPOILERS: Post-Season 1, a bit of pre and in-season parts of Season 2. A bit of AU. Setsuna/Marina.

* * *

Marina Ismail's Bedroom, Royal Palace, Tehran, Azadistan

* * *

"All clear."

Setsuna whispered upon entering Marina's bedroom, having been able to infiltrate the Azadistani Royal Palace like he did when he _stopped _by to see her. Like the last time, soldiers of the Azadistani Royal Guard did not see him sneak around the premises.

_Hm? _

Setsuna had his pistol drawn out, aiming it at every part of the bedroom to see if an armed royal guard or a bodyguard was in the room with her. Normally, he would not hesitate to shoot or disarm them before beating the heck out of them, but he knew that they're trying to protect Marina from any harm.

Especially since she was trying to get solar power for her poverty-stricken people.

_Guess that was nothing._

The ex-KPSA guerrilla holstered his weapon on a concealed holster located somewhere in his pants. Seeing that there was nothing standing in his way, Setsuna walked slowly towarads Marina's bed.

He saw that the princess was sleeping peacefully under her blanket that covered most of her body except for her neck and head. In her right hand clutched the letter that Setsuna had mailed to Marina secretly before his eventual fight with the UN Army's GN-X units.

Marina turned around, now having been positioned on her right side. Setsuna didn't do anything except to watch her sleep.

"Hmmm..." Marina moved a bit around, opening her eyes and blinking them to ward off the drowsiness she was going through from sleeping. She was surprised to see who was watching her.

"S-setsuna?" The Azadistani princess whispered.

"I have returned, Marina." Setsuna answered softly for Marina to hear, not without risking the chance of having armed Royal Guard soldiers rushing in due to the noise in the bedroom to either shoot him or take him down and arrest him, though Setsuna would fight off in the latter with the risk of being killed.

"I..." Marina clutched her letter to her chest, the strong grip nearly crumpling it. "I heard from the news that..."

Setsuna shook his head before he knelt down in front of her. "Celestial Being was not defeated. I can assure you."

"I don't know." Marina shook her head. "I heard stories that your mothership was destroyed by the UN military."

"Perhaps." Setsuna didn't bother to retort her answer.

Marina did not do anything except to place the semi-crumpled letter on her night table. She did something that would have been considered bold and daring by Setsuna.

She grasped Setsuna's right cheek with her left hand. Her fingers touched his skin as it ran up and down all the way to the temple.

"Why?" Setsuna merely asked, seeing Marina smile at him.

"I thought you were dead when I got your letter." Marina said before she patted her right side after she sat down on her bed. Setsuna complied and sat down next to Marina.

"I thought I was too." Setsuna said, looking outside the balcony window to see the stars in the middle of the night.

"How did you survive?"

"The Gundam."

Marina was confused; she didn't know what Setsuna was talking about.

"The Gundam saved me when a Flag tried to attack me." Setsuna explained on his previous comment. "If it weren't for the Gundam, I would've been dead."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Marina this time touched Setsuna's left temple and cheek. "But I'm glad you're alive."

Setsuna did not remove Marina's hand but rather relished it. He closed his eyes and placed his left hand over it, which made Marina happier. The last time it happened to him was his own mother.

Before he was ordered to kill her in the name of Allah as a child.

"Will you be here in Azadistan?" Marina asked, her hand still on Setsuna's left cheek.

"I don't know..." Setsuna shrugged his shoulders. "There's still much work to do."

"What do you mean?" Marina asked the Kurdish teenager.

"I'm not sure if the world will be without violence." Setsuna stood up from the bed. "If there still is, I might be forced to fight again."

"Again, Setsuna?" Marina sounded anxious and terrified.

"It's what I do best." Setsuna walked towards the balcony, peeking out to see if any Royal Guard soldiers were in the garden.

"Will..." Marina stood up from her bed as she walked to Setsuna. "Will I see you again?"

Setsuna was about to reply, but decided to study Marina carefully. He noted that her eyes had shown signs of anxiety; it had plagued her as monarch after the old Iranian Majles-e Shura-ye Eslami or Majlis of Iran was disbanded and reformed with the new Majlis of Azadistan, which voted for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy years before the construction of the various solar elevators. Her elevation to the Azadistani monarchy was also voted on by the Majlis, which came about after the defeat of the Kurdish Republic's military years ago in the Azadistani-Kurdish War.

_I don't know whether I should pity or comfort her. _Setsuna sighed before he gave a reply to the princess.

"Yes." Setsuna replied. "I believe we can perhaps see other again."

Marina hugged Setsuna from behind, her fingers touching his belly.

_Mother._

Setsuna placed his left hand on her hands, trying to remember the times that he was together with his mother.

"Thank you." Marina placed a kiss on Setsuna's right temple before she watched him climb down from the balcony via the ivy that was adjacent to it.

* * *

Mobile Weapons Hangar, Ptolemaios 2, somewhere in the Indian Ocean

* * *

"Setsuna!"

Setsuna was hugged by Marina, wearing her prison clothes, after she was helped by Setsuna in climbing down the cockpit of the 00 Gundam. The two were alone as Lockon aka Lyle Dylandy, Allelujah and Tieria left the hangar ahead of them.

"Setsuna." Marina cried when she hugged Setsuna. It was 4 years since they last met in Azadistan in the Royal Palace.

"Marina." Setsuna hesitated before he returned the hug. Again, it was a gesture that Setsuna did not experience before he fought in the KPSA _for Allah's will_. The hug, like the hands that Marina had used to touch Setsuna's cheek, symbolizes a lot of feelings that cannot be said with mere words. Feelings such as _I Love You_, _Welcome Back _or _So Long, Friend_.

"I was scared, Setsuna." Marina faced Setsuna, who had tears from her eyes. "The A-LAWs..."

"What of the A-LAWs?" Setsuna calmly removed Marina's tears with his gloved hands.

"They think I'm with Celestial Being due to the kidnapping of Rasa Rachmadi."

The Kurdish man had then felt anger and hatred, a feeling that he had never felt before since he faced Ali Al-Saachez 4 years ago. He didn't understand why the A-LAWs or Earth Federation intelligence had bothered to arrest and interrogate Marina on false charges.

"You'll be fine." Setsuna wiped off Marina's tears.

"Setsuna!" Marina squeaked in surprise.

"You don't have to be afraid." Setsuna was about to leave the hangar when he told her. "You should come to the conference room. The others will need to talk to you."

* * *

Conference Room, Ptolemaios 2, somewhere in the Indian Ocean

* * *

"Can I be frank with you guys?"

Mileina Vashti peeked into the conference room, moments after Tieria, Ian and Lasse had left. Only Setsuna and Marina were left in the room.

"Are you two lovers?"

"No!" Marina and Setsuna had said their response in unison.

"Aww!" Mileina huffed.

Laughter was heard a bit from outside the room.

"PAPA!" Mileina shouted at Ian. "You're so unfair!" When Mileina left, Marina looked at Setsuna. He was right next to her, who wore the new Celestial Being uniform.

"Setsuna." Marina whispered, grabbing his left gloved hand.

"Hm?" Setsuna stared at the black-haired woman, who smiled at him once again.

"Thank you." Marina affectionately touched his hand. "For keeping it a secret."

Setsuna nodded. "It was no trouble at all."

THE END

PS - This'll be it for the Gundam 00 subcategory. Don't worry, I'll come back soon enough. Right now, I really, really want to venture to the Code Geass subcategory as soon as I publish my GITS: 2nd Gig and Kara no Kyokai stories soon, perhaps next week or in the weekend for one of them and then for the other story. This story was suggested by one of my reviewers to try out. And so being the Setsuna/Marina shipper that I am, I decided to have a go for it. You know who you are, mate! :D

I had previously (and recently) did stories for Gundam UC and for the Centurions subcategory (Yes, the old cartoon that I grew to love. Jake Rockwell's my fav character next to Ace and Max) with a Gundam 00 fic based on Graham. Just to let you know and a little FYI for ya folks. I'd like to pose a question to you reviewers if a Gundam 00/Centurions story would be plausible?

Wonder if anyone's still doing the Setsuna/possible harem story. Peraps with some crack pairings including Setsuna/Soma and Setsuna/Kati is in order, eh? XP. Let me know since I'd like to see it for myself. For know, please do let me know how I did for this Setsuna/Marina story. Thanks and have a good day. Feel free to check up and read on my other works (Though I'd ask if you don't mind reading my other works that haven't reviewed yet, yes?)

A little history. Iran's parliament is called the Majlis of Iran or the Majles-e Shura-ye Eslami in Persian.


End file.
